Blood Knights ReviewXbox 360

key review info

Hack and slash games have a lot to live up to, as the genre has seen some really great experiences over the years, from brutal ones like God of War, to more stylish experiences like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Downloadable games, however, aren't always a safe bet, as they could end up disappointing in different areas.

Blood Knights, coming from developer Deck13 and Kalypso, promises to deliver a great experience with an intriguing story, that of a Templar knight that's bound to a vampire in order to stop an avalanche of monsters, and impressive gameplay, which allows either a two-player cooperative playthrough or one player to easily switch between the two protagonists.

Does the new game deliver on these bold promises or should the Blood Knights lay down their weapons? Let's find out.

Play as Jeremy the Templar ...

... and Liz the vampire

Blood Knights tells the story of Jeremy, a knight whose sole purpose is to hunt down vampires and other supernatural beings. Unfortunately for him, humanity's dire position forces the knight to accept being bound to a vampire archer.

As you can imagine, this uneasy alliance has the potential for a great team up but, unfortunately, the story doesn't allow the characters to actually develop, instead focusing on advancing the pretty cheesy plot.

The bad story is made worse by the fact that you can choose your character's dialog options and, in some moments, you'll even be able to make some seemingly important choices. Unfortunately, the options and decisions don't have that big of an impact on what happens next, so you shouldn't worry about any repercussions.

Besides the disappointing narrative, Blood Knights also features simplistic gameplay, both in terms of combat and other mechanics.

Jeremy has one basic attack that can be stringed together for a combo, and two different heavy attacks, both attached to cooldowns. Liz the vampire can shoot her crossbow as her primary attack and fling grenades towards enemies.

Thanks to their vampiric powers, they can suck blood from victims at a certain distance, thereby replenishing their health and slowing down time, which comes in handy during the really hectic fights. Unfortunately, most bosses are immune to this practice so make sure you manage your health, especially since you don't have a parry or block ability.

Enemies are quite simplistic, including various infantry units like humans, werewolves, and other monsters, to ranged variations equipped with crossbows, or those with shields. Most of them can be eliminated rather easily, but the game throws quite a lot of them towards the player, even when playing solo, without a buddy via local co-op.

Blood Knights even has role-playing game elements, but they're once again rather simplistic. As you progress through levels, you unlock skill points that can be spent on upgrading existing attacks, unlocking new ones, or getting bonus discounts with traders. You can also loot special chests in the game world in order to score fresh gear such as armor or weapons for both characters.

You can sell gear to traders and buy new items straight from them, but there's never really any need or incentive to make buying things an interesting option.

The co-op mechanic is relatively smooth, but when fights get really clustered some lag appeared, and there were a few missed collisions and hits.

In terms of graphics, Blood Knights isn't that impressive, particularly on the Xbox 360, where a lack of anti-aliasing makes the whole experience look really bad. The character models are decent enough, but their animations during cut scenes are rigid to say the least.

The soundtrack is also unimpressive and the voice acting is lackluster, as the characters barely portray any sort of emotion.

Explore the small world ...

... and fight different enemies

Conclusion

Blood Knights is a mediocre hack and slash title with lackluster graphics, repetitive gameplay, and a bland story. While it might certainly cure an itch for an RPG brawler, there are other games much more suited to the task.